


The Secret Siren

by pinkbowbunny



Category: Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns
Genre: F/M, Gen, Lulukoko, Other, mermaid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 09:18:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18466015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkbowbunny/pseuds/pinkbowbunny
Summary: That farmer at the crossroads... Everyone knows she’s secretly a mermaid. She doesn’t have to admit it, it’s obvious. What she secretly knows about Lotus isn’t nearly as obvious, to anyone, but especially not Lotus himself... She’s determined to change that, and a lot else for that poor, shy, kind man... She changed a lot too...Mermaid!OC AU! The farmer is a mermaid and is in love with Lotus! Mostly just myth and fluff, with just a lil darkness... Hope you guys enjoy and if you do I’d really appreciate if you’d please kudo and/or comment! Peace n mermaid love, fellow farmers!





	The Secret Siren

Years go by a little faster as you age, Lotus had noticed...

When you're a kid a single school year can feel like a lifetime, especially if you didn't have very nice or supportive family members or classmates growing up. Time is supposed to fly by when you're having fun, but between a missing mother who saddled you with a literally flowery name for a boy and then left forever, a father who resented you and never thought you were good enough at or for anything, and nothing but bullies at school who pretended to be friends just to get their homework done, well, he hadn't had very much fun as a kid at all...

He never gave up despite it all though, and things thankfully steadily got better as he got older, and moved away to go to college. He never saw the old bullies again, and he seldom heard from his father, until he too tapered away. There were new manipulators in college, but they were more tolerable. Too busy chasing each other to bully or bother with him at all as long as he helped them academically. It wasn't nearly as bad, he was glad to be able to study all he liked without being bothered... It was just a little lonely sometimes... Okay more than a little... Sometimes it got so lonely he almost wanted to give up a few times. As much as he loved his books and the knowledge that filled him in place of the loved he never felt, sometimes a cruel voice inside of him taunted him — 'Are these books and imaginary characters your only friends Lotus...? Pathetic...'

But then he met an amazing researcher just after college, Mithra, who inspired him to follow her to every corner of the globe that she set her discerning sights upon, even if just as an assistant. Unfortunately he didn't seem to inspire her quite as much in return, though. At least not as much as her former professor, who gave her a daughter and an A+, but then married another fellow student the following year...

He would have never had the nerve to assert himself romantically with her anyways, but certainly not after the heartbreak that hardened her heart forever. Still, she allowed him to stay nearby and help her with both her research work and taking care of her daughter, almost but just not quite playing the role, and he was glad to do so, despite getting seemingly little in return. She was strict and stern but she wasn't excessively mean to him, just didn't always realize when she was pushing him sometimes...

It was okay though... He cherished their bond too much to complain, and it made him feel stronger to be able to keep up with her. Yeah, if he could run with a woman like Mithra, he defininitely wasn't too weak and dumb then...

So he followed her, assisted her, played Uncle to her daughter. Years went by, a little faster now. It didn't seem too long at all before Mithra's daughter had grown, moved out on her own, and left her mother deciding to move back nearby her place of birth.

He was a man of few passions and far less inclination to act upon any of them. Until the day he met that strange farmer... The day that time stood still...

There's plenty of beautiful women in the world. Lotus had seen many. Seen, but never really looked. Never dared to gaze. Though it wasn't even that he dared with her, he just found for a moment that he couldn't really help it...

People from these parts had dark hair and brown skin, generally. She looked more like a Westown resident, apparently related to one, or so Ludus said that she had told him. She had very pale skin, almost as pale as a white pearl, though surely she was in the sun daily. Her hair was bright red, as shocking as a boiled crab, and her eyes were like ocean water, a perfect mix of blue and green. Despite not looking like anyone there, she fit in more easily in Lulukoko than anywhere else, and especially with the ocean and the beach, like a mermaid plucked straight from her home, forced to live her life apart from the sea. Her eyes were a little cold and distant sometimes to others, she didn't often seek people out, but her words, to him, when finally spoken, were always soft and kind, sometimes even warm and bubbly like summer sea foam, if she was fond of you. Her name, naturally, was Coral...

He had seen her farm while visiting for shipments several times, and soon she started talking to him at the gate. Then she started going out of her way to visit him. And recently, she had given him a full tour of the property. It was always apparent that she prefered watery crops, growing a lot of rice and wasabi primarily and just a few other crops beside her house. She didn't keep animals, but she had a lake beside her farmlands and beside and inside of that she cultivated many kinds of fish, crab and pearls. The woman made a small fortune on the pearls alone, and always wore several strings of them with other shells attached on necklaces. It was never a secret how much she adored it all.

She listened to him speak on many things. He never told her anything too personal outright, but everything he said about himself seemed to tell her everything, and more. One twilight by the beach she suddenly asked him, as he criticised himself quite harshly after a day of hard but sadly unproductive work, "Lotus... Why do you think so lowly of yourself? You are kind, and helpful. You show how much you love and care for your people every day. You should love yourself as much as you love everyone else... Don't you think so?"

He had never been so flustered before in his life. No one had ever paid him so many compliments at once bèfore, let along such a pretty young woman... "I... I guess its just that my father was always very critical of me... Even though I haven't seen or heard from him in years, I still hear his voice a lot in my head, especially when I mess up. Believe it or not it actually helps to have Mithra criticize me instead. Her voice helps drown out his. She's much kinder about it than my father ever was. She helps me not to embarrass myself as much, because I know, though the other men are kind enough not to mention it, they dislike my lack of strength and courage too... I really don't want them to think what my father thought especially, so I'm grateful to Mithra for being so kind to me, for helping me to not look so weak, and helping me cover for my shortcomings..."

Coral raised a brow at that. Mithra was not a gentle or empathetic woman, so that said something, that Lotus really thought she was so kind... But instead of apologizing to him, which she knew would only make him feel worse, she instead affirmed for him, grasping his shoulder with her long and slender and strangely strong hand... "I know how you feel. My mother was very harsh to me sometimes too..."

He blinked up at her. "Marlena...?" He was very surprised, even a little skeptical. The woman had visited a few times over the years and always seemed very nice...

Strangely, Coral shook her head. "No. Not my... Adoptive mother. I meant my birth mother..."

Now he was REALLY surprised. This had never come up before... "Ah, you're adopted...?" It made sense though, she didn't really look too much like them...

She nodded, pensive for a moment, peering into his face. "...Can I tell you a secret?"

He thought she already had. He was nervous, but he didn't want to let her down. "Oh, uh, sure..."

She looked away from him again, and out at the waves. "She's actually... Right there. My birth mother..." Her eyes already indicated where she was speaking of, but she also stretched a hand out and pointed to the sea as well...

He was confused, unsure how to respond. She expected that, and carried on as the waves also did, up to their toes... "My reincarnated human form was found as a baby, curled up in a large clam that Marlena and her husband found on this very beach, on their honeymoon, years ago. Before that reincarnation I had several others. A starfish. A crab. A tuna. A turtle. An octopus. A shark. A dolphin. An orca. And then... Then I was something special for a while. I was what you humans call... A mermaid."

He stared openly at her. It wasn't hard to believe at all, quite the opposite. More than anything he was shocked that she'd simply just admitted to him what everyone had always been suspecting behind her back. Though he now got the feeling that she had always been able to see and hear everything going on around her anyways... "W-Why...?" Why are you telling me this? Why am I special enough to know something this amazing?

She smiled at him coolly, and he just knew she had heard everything he didn't say. She answered him indirectly, by continuing to explain, "The ocean is a very harsh mother, one of the most unforgiving mothers there ever was or will be, second only to the darkness of the void of space... Her waves will throw you against rocks, send predators to devour you. She is most often cold, sometimes so cold she can strike you frozen. She never has a word of encouragement, only the sounds of all the world's waters filling up her empty soul... He was like that too, wasn't he Lotus? He would throw you around, look upon you with coldness, never encourage you... Never protect you from the predators from your school who forced you to do their work or be terrorized, filling his own empty soul with deathly liquids... So, I understand. I am glad you got far away from him, physically at least. But I understand why its still hard to escape him even in your mind. Becuase even though I too grew tired of my mother's harshness and longed to get away... I couldn't help but still love her, if only because she was my mother, and she was always close to my heart and soul even after I left... No matter how far on land I traveled, part of me always longed to return to her, despite how harsh she had always been towards me... That is, until I finally found what I was just as sure, deep down in the bottom of my soul, that I was looking for... What I was looking for, when I decided to leave my mother and spend my last lives as a human instead... You."

He was still trying to wrap his swimming head around all the mermaid stuff, let alone that extra crazy last bit, which was making his heart pound harder than a hurricane... "H-Huh...?! W-What...?"

She stared him down, patient but very serious. "I felt your poor, scared and lonely soul crying out for companionship, even without words, and so far from the surface, all those years ago, back when I still had a tail like shimmering rubies, spotted with emeralds... The others ignored you, just as I ignored all the other cries I ever heard before, but... Your lonely soul's cry was like a siren to me, calling me from my home, to give you one instead..."

He was dumbfounded. This was all so much. It was crazy. He was so tempted to believe it, it would be so amazing if it were true, but... She was just telling a story, right...? "You... You're a very creative young lady, Coral..." But even as he said it he could hear how insincere it sounded from him, compared to how sincere she had sounded telling him all she had.

"Lotus, please..." She sighed, not so cold or cool now. She was almost getting huffy and puffy, like a storm was stirring up in her... "You heard me. I've had other lives before. This human one might be younger than you, but my turtle life alone was older than you are now. I am the one who should worry about age. I have over 400 years more experience than you do... I'm sure by human standards that would be quite scandalous..." Literally unheard of. "But... I only care what you think, Lotus. Because you are so good and kind, I trust your judgment. Am I bad for leaving the ocean to find you, and... falling in love with you? Do you want to be with me, or would you prefer if I went away...? My mother and I are back on speaking terms, I suppose I can still go back to her... If I must..."

His eyes went wide, wider than they'd ever gone before. Her eyes flicked briefly out to the ocean. He panicked. "N-No! If you're happier here, then please stay here! I dont want you to go back to anywhere that makes you afraid..." His heart was pounding with fear, but now, also, with elation. "And... If you're really so sure that it would make you happiest to be around me, well, ah... Does that mean you'd want me to quit working for Mithra and come work for you instead...?"

He'd never had a proper relationship. He based his closeness to a person on how much he liked working for or around them, pretty much. If he managed to not be too much of a clutz and help them, and they seemed pleased with his work more often than not, it must mean they were friends. Coral had hired him to help her on the farm a few times before. Maybe she needed more help...? He could easily believe that she was a secret former mermaid, but he still couldn't yet process that she had told him she had fallen in love with him, so, surely that had to be the real reason...

She sighed, looking upon him piteously but patiently. "I don't mind if you want to work for her, or help me at home... But I'm not asking you to work for me, Lotus. I'm asking you to be my mate. My soulmate..."

Only then did it finally start to dawn on him, despite her already being blunt enough the first time. "O-Oh! I, ah, I see...?" Not exactly... How on Earth had this happened. The most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life was a reincarnated mermaid and she was in love with him and wanted to marry him...? Lotus usually dealt with legends and mythology. This felt more like a fairy tale...

Coral could see quite plainly that he didn't really see. Not quite yet. But she was finally ready to help him see...

"Look at me, my Lotus flower..." She whispered, imploring him to really gaze upon her now, as she knew he was always so tempted to do. "Let me feel your petals..."

She knew he wouldn't understand, not until she made it even clearer than a barreleye fish's head. Not until she closed the distance between him. Somehow it was easier to cross an ocean than these last few inches, but she summoned her courage, her fierceness, like a shark, dolphin or orca, focused on catching their prey. She pounced on him, sending him sprawling to the beach...

Luckily the sand broke his fall, and her lips were as soft as flower petals, though the scent and taste of her was more salty than sweet, more like sea air and ocean water than anything. There was a hint of hibiscus clinging to her hair, and a bit of mango on the back of her fishy breath, but otherwise her kiss was an acquired taste...

Which Lotus decided, almost on the spot, that he had definitely just acquired...

Almost, but first he laid nearly frozen underneath her for a few seconds, his eyes as wide as a surprised puffer fish. Thankfully the villagers were mostly away from the beach and at the bonfire now, giving them some privacy. Giving him just enough courage to shyly press his lips back up to hers. His very first kiss, ever. Ever-ever. From anyone. In his whole entire life...

When she finally pulled back he was pink and red all over, looking as much like coral as she did. "O-Oh! M-My! C-Coral, y-y-you, th-that—!"

She shushed him with a finger to his lips. "Give yourself a minute, dear Lotus-flower. If you stutter every word I can't understand..."

He nodded and swallowed hard against the lump in his throat, then tried again a minute later. "C-Coral, that was... I can't believe... I... I think... If you're sure of what you want, I couldn't deny you, but... Really, me? Just because I'm a lonely man doesn't make me worthy of a wonderful, beautiful woman like you... You wouldn't rather have a strong and handsome man like Ludus...?"

"Just because I am a beautiful woman doesn't mean I only desire strong and handsome men. Not that you aren't either, in your own way." She countered immediately and very decisively. "But I prefer you just as you are. I've had mates in all my other lives. Some of them strong and handsome like Ludus. Some of them quite ugly indeed. Either way, I never loved any of them as I love you... As much I loved you when I first saw you, and as much as I love you now... But what about you, Lotus-flower? Are you only falling in love with me because I asked you to?" She smirked, then falsely pouted.

Lotus shook his head quickly, "N-No! It's... B-Because... Because I loved you from the moment I saw you! I loved you right then and I've loved you more and more ever since! And I know, now... That I'll keep loving you, forever..." He suddenly blurted out, managing not to stutter almost at all. "If you really want me, you can have me. Not because I'd have anyone. Thats not the case, and I wouldn't. It's because I love you, and it would be my honor to love you..."

She pressed a kiss to his forehead. "You knew you loved me when you saw me... Just as I loved you before I even met you. Before I was even human. I was an ocean spirit, but your rare and courageous heart, so full of love to give despite receiving none, called me to the shore..."

Rather abruptly, a rush of sea foam came in. Waves rarely came in quite that far but this one crept all the way up to their knees. Coral laughed, "I think my mother is trying to say she approves of you! But it is a little hard trying to be romantic with your mother nearby... Would you care to continue this back at my farm...?"

Despite and also because of being a literal Forty Year Old Virgin, Lotus gulped hard and his eyes went wide. He was definitely stuttering again now. "H-Huh? B-But, isn't it... K-Kind of late now...?"

"It is." Coral nodded, smiling. "So you should leave a note for Mithra before you go..."

Mithra had never seen such shaky handwriting in all of her life...

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

A few years later on one typical Summer day, a little boy with dark hair, olive skin, and little glasses over his sea blue eyes was wading through the flooded rice paddies on short but steady little legs, trying his best to keep up with his mother, who could swim through it as fast as a fish or an eel. He was a kind and polite boy, but also an energetic and confident one, so unlike Lotus at that age. But then he had much more love and support from his parents than his father had growing up...

They named him after the shore that connected them... Riku.

Now, every day spent with his cherished new family went by in a flash... Riku grew so fast before his very eyes he could barely keep up. Wrinkles and grey hairs started to appear in his reflection in the mirror before he knew it. When Coral noticed him notice it, she thoughtfully used some of her remaining mermaid-magic to turn a few strands of her ruby-colored hair to pearl-white...

Yes, time seemed to go by faster everyday now... He supposed he ought to be more alarmed about that, but he wasn't. Life had never been so carefree for him. He still visited Mithra from time to time, but now she was more like an old friend to him rather than a boss. A really bossy old friend, but still...

The village men were much more impressed with him now too. Managing to marry the most admired woman in all three towns was a feat for anyone, but timid old Lotus? Stranger things had happened, perhaps, but this was the strangest for quite some time.

Lotus was glad to have their respect, but honestly, he didn't need it. His father's voice and even his own doubts about such things had long since left his mind, carried away entirely by the simple sounds of his wife and son (and within his wife, his future twin daughters, Umi and Nami...) happily splashing in the rice paddies...

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

(( The end! but, an additional hc... Umi and Nami (both redheads like mom but with dad's darker skin and violet eyes) are someday trained by Iluka and Siluka to be the next priestesses, and Riku is taught by both his dear old dad and Ludus, so he's book-smart AND strong/talented~ Lotus is overwhelmingly proud and is much more genuinely accepted into the Lulukoko community despite not being a manly stereotype, and that itself is challenged too. In time, despite being a few years younger, Riku marries Alma, who is a total firecracker like her mom~ Lotus and Riku are both very surprised but Coral totally saw it coming... xD

...Also if I accidentally called Lotus 'Ludus' at any point and didn't catch it, my bad, its so hard when they're so similar... xD;; ))


End file.
